Dr. Dan Hayden • 

Merry Christmas! I hope you’re having a wonderful day with family and friends. But most of all, I hope that you are grateful in your heart for the birth of Christ and that sometime during the day you will take time to worship Him.

In Matthew’s account of the birth of Christ, he highlights the visit of the wise men from the east, who came bearing gifts for the purpose of worshiping the child who had been born, “King of the Jews.” In Matthew 2:11, we read, “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshiped him.” The wise men were Magi from Babylon, which is modern-day Iraq. So it is really quite striking that they would worship a Jewish child and bow before Him as though He were God. But that’s exactly what they did. The verse said: “They fell down, and worshiped him.”

The word “worship” here means to prostrate oneself in homage. Literally, it means “to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand” It’s a strong word of devotion and respectful reverence. Now they did this by literally falling down on their hands and knees.

 

Have you ever seen the Muslims pray? They get down on their knees, and then lean forward with their hands outstretched, and touch their faces to the ground. Well, today the Muslims do that to Allah. But the wise men from Iraq did that to Jesus.

And that raises a question for us – How serious are we in our worship of Jesus? Do we prostrate ourselves in total humility before Him? Are we as committed to Jesus as the Muslims are to Allah, bowing before him five times a day in prayer? Perhaps today, on Christmas Day, it is a good time to reevaluate our relationship to Christ and fall down and worship Him.

Say – There’s an old saying worth repeating – “Wise men still worship Him.”